Bacteria in sharks' mouths almost as scary as teeth

The scariest thing about a shark's mouth — aside from the teeth — is the bacteria.

"It's a really dirty bite," said Dr. Robert Borrego, medical director of the St. Mary's trauma center in West Palm Beach, which has treated several shark-bite victims. "Some of them get infected.''

To improve medical treatment in the state that usually sees the nation's most shark bites, Borrego and other researchers have begun working with shark fishermen to swab the insides of shark's mouths, analyze the bacteria and figure out which antibiotics would fight them most effectively.